Off the Map
by Insanity-5pak
Summary: Ash's trip off the map shows that not all monsters can be caught.
1. Begin

**Off the Map**

**Chapter one**

**Begin**

Ash, Misty and Brock checked their gear again, making sure they had the correct supplies and plenty of them. When they were satisfied with their gear, Ash looked into the thick forest ahead of them and said, "Well, this is the line that divides Joto with the uncharted area." He chuckled and said, "I'll bet we'll find loads of rare and new Pokemon here."

Misty nodded, but Brock said, "I still think that there's a good reason for this area being uninhabited. I'm still not sure it's safe."

Ash scoffed and said, "Ahh come on Brock, don't be so superstitious. Come on, let's get going." The Pikachu on his shoulders exclaimed, "Pikapi!" and the three friends set off into the unknown. As they walked into past the trees, someone watched them leave. He stepped to the border of Joto and looked after them as they walked. He said, "Well Ash, it's seems for once you beat me at something. But you won't steal all the Pokemon in there right out from under my nose." With that Gray Oak set off after the three travelers, determined not to let his rival out do him.

* * *

Miles away, Giovanni watched the travelers enter the uncharted region. He seemed deep in thought. Now, Giovanni was no fool. He knew that there was a very good reason for that area being uninhabited, he wasn't sure of the exact cause, however. He knew that area was dangerous, but it was also probably crawling with rare Pokemon. Giovanni couldn't allow some brats to steal such valuable specimens, right out from under him. He summoned the three most expendable members Team Rocket possessed.

Jessie, James, and Meowth clumsily entered and bowed to Giovanni, saying, "Yes sir?"

Without looking at the three of them, Giovanni marked the four travelers via his satellite system, so that he could see where they relatively where at all times. He then said, "Take this," he held out a small, hand-held computer, "and track the four people marked on it. Follow them through the uncharted region, near Joto. See what they find. If you find anything of value, take it. Expect back-up, now be gone."

The three bowed and hurried from the room. He could here the buffoons talking amongst themselves as they scurried down the hall. A few seconds later, another door to the room opened, and Butch and Cassidy entered the room. Giovanni continued to watch the large monitor while saying, "I assume you heard my orders to the others."

Butch and Cassidy nodded and he continued, "Good, follow them. Make sure they don't fail. And, only if necessary, use them to escape with anything of value. If they must die to further Team Rocket so be it, but you two are slightly less expendable than they. So try not to die, ok?"

With only a nod, Butch and Cassidy left the room. Giovanni now saw eight blips on the large monitor. He could only see the relative location of where each person was, but it was enough. He stood from his seat and exited the room. He did not doubt that soon his two teams would find something worthy of Team Rocket. Soon, he would have the power he had always wanted.


	2. Thunder bolt

**Chapter 2**

**Thunderbolt**

Ash groaned and said, "Where are we? And where are all the cool Pokemon? This bites."

Misty tsked and said, "Oh Ash you're such a cry baby. We've only been out here a few hours." She cradled the small Togepi in her arms, which seemed to giggle at the two of them. Brock stopped and looked around. The woods were very dark, even though it was day time. The trees were dead, and bore no leaves. Their limbs creaked and moaned with decay. Brock then noticed something in the distance. He said, "Hey I see something."

The three of them walked in between the trees, and came upon a decrypted old sign. It was old, very old. The chains holding it up were rusted beyond belief. It read, "Camp Crystal Lake", although the letters were very faded. The three trainers stared at it for a moment, and then Ash said, "A camp? We came all the way out here for a lousy, abandoned camp? This isn't dangerous or rare. This stinks!" Beyond the sign were many decayed buildings, and a murky lake. There was also an abandoned construction site quite a ways back.

Suddenly there came a sound from the woods. It was the sound of thrashing and running. Someone or something was coming towards them! Pikachu hopped on the ground, ready to strike. Misty tightened her grip on Togepi, and Brock readied a Pokeball. Then something flew out from behind the trees, and sailed over there heads. Ash turned and saw Jessie, James, and Meowth of Team Rocket lying on the ground. He looked back, and from behind the trees came Gary Oak and his Eevee. Gary looked back into the woods and called, "Ok, you two, come out!"

A short distance away, two people jumped out from behind the trees. They were Butch and Cassidy of Team Rocket. Everyone stared at each other for a moment. Gary took notice of the old sign, and a strange look crossed his face. A mix of shock and fear. Ash finally said, "What's going on? Why were you all following us?"

Gary whispered, "He couldn't have been right…" then Butch said, "We were instructed to follow you, and take anything of value you find. Unfortunately, those dimwits over there," he gestured to Jessie, James, and Meowth, "blew our cover by getting noticed by this fool," he pointed to Gary.

Jessie and James stood up and Jessie said, "Well even if our covers blown, we can still take the Pokemon they've already got." She pulled out a Pokeball and threw it to the ground. Her Arbok appeared and hissed at Pikachu. Ash exclaimed, "Oh yeah, we'll see! Pikachu, Thunder bolt!"

Pikachu's cheeks sparked with electricity, and then a bolt of lightning shot from the small rodent. But the attack missed Arbok, and sailed through the air, hitting the distant lake. Gary noticed this and said, "No don't!"

Everyone turned to him, confused as to why he, Gary Oak, would not want a fight. He blushed and said, "Listen, there's something wrong here. I don't like the feel of this place. We should leave, now!"

Ash stared dumbstruck at his rival. Never had he heard Gary speak those words. He said, "Gary, are you feeling ok?"

Gary shook his head, saying, "Listen, I knew someone who came into this place before. He came with ten other trainers, but he was the only one to come back. He… he had gone insane, yeah, but still he told me of something horrible they had found in what looked like a camp. He could never say exactly what it was, but I think he was telling the truth. I don't like the feel of this place, I think we should leave."

Butch scoffed and said, "Something dangerous…. There's nothing dangerous here. Come on Cassidy, let's take a look around. The kid's probably scared we'll find all the rare Pokemon before him." With that, the two left in separate directions.

Ash looked back at Gary, who was looking around nervously. Ash said, "Gary, I don't think there's anything dangerous here. Maybe that guy was just… crazy."

Gary shook his head saying, "No, Eevee's been twitchy for a while now. It knows something's wrong here. Listen Ash, we have to get out of here. Screw those two Team Rocket crooks, let's get out of here now!"

Jessie and James said to one another, "Who do think we should trust? I don't know, let's just see what happens." Jessie then said to everyone, "Well if you kiddies want to run off, go ahead. But it'll be Team Rocket that finds any…"

She was cut of by a bloodcurdling scream. It was Cassidy! Everyone ran in the direction of the scream. Ash saw Butch coming from the other side of the camp. Soon they found Cassidy. Blood was pouring down her face in torrents, darkening her hair. A Pokeball was sitting unopened on the ground near her. Sticking out of her head was a machete. It pinned her to one of the supports for a porch. Her legs were suspended several inches off the ground. Everyone stood still at the site of her corpse. Misty put her hand to her mouth and retched. Butch stood staring wide-eyed at his dead partner. Gary's eyes flooded with panic and terror. He had been right, something was here. Something evil.


	3. Metronome

Chapter 3

Metronome

Gary walked back and forth, wringing his hands. Brock and Ash had moved Cassidy's body out of sight. Butch had put all of her pokeballs in his backpack, and now stood still, staring at the ground. Gary finally said, "Ok, let's leave. Right now, no second thoughts about it. We just run and get the heck out of this place."

Butch glared at the boy and said, "No. Whatever killed my partner is still out there. And I'm not stopping until it's dead."

Gary shook his head and exclaimed, "Haven't you been listening! Whatever is out here can't die! You can't kill it, you can't catch it, you can't beat it! Don't you understand?"

Butch rounded on Gary and shouted, "And what about this friend of yours! If this thing is so unbeatable then how did he survive, huh? What secret did he use to beat this thing?"

Gary stared at Butch, shocked for a moment, but then his expression steeled up again and he said, "I… don't know. I don't remember."

Butch turned away from Gary and said, "Freaking great. Nice time to have memory loss pal. Ok, fine then. How about this, we all stick together and hunt this thing down. We beat the living crap out of whatever it is, then go from there? Is that fine with everyone, or would you all rather go back into the woods and let it come after us at night while we're asleep?"

No one seemed to like the idea of being hunted through the woods, so they all quickly decided that if they had to fight, they might as well fight in the open. Butch took the machete in his hand, just in case. The group decided to search the camp for any clues as to what had done this to Cassidy. Gary, meanwhile, continued to think over all the babble he had been told about this place, trying to find any clue to beating whatever was here. As the group began searching the near by cabins, Ash and Misty looked through one of the cabins by themselves. Misty said, "Ash, we should hurry and catch up with everyone else."

Ash said, "Hold on, I found something."

Misty looked over his shoulder and saw that he was holding a book, a journal. Ash opened the book gently. It was very old. Much of the writing was smeared and obscure, and what was readable was useless information about some ancient camper. As the two read, they suddenly heard something outside. They turned at the noise and then heard a shout followed by another, much closer and louder scream. As Ash and Misty stood listening, something flew through the door way of the cabin and smashed into a near by table. The two jumped back in fright, and stood completely still at the foot of a stair well at the other end of the room. They waited to see what would happen, prepared to rush up the stair if necessary. They then realized that the thing under the table was actually a person. The person groaned and tried to crawl forward. Ash was about to run over and help when something else entered the room. It, or rather he, was the single most frightening thing Ash had ever seen. He was a man, or what looked like a man. He stood at least 7 feet tall, probably more. His clothing was filthy and ragged. He held a machete in one hand, and wore a hockey mask over his face. Behind that mask, were the coldest, most lifeless eyes Ash had ever seen. Looking at this, thing, this monstrosity, caused Ash's very blood to freeze. The thing turned to the person squirming out from under the table, who Ash now realized was Butch, and raised the machete he held. As Butch began to stand, the creature brought his weapon down hard on top of Butch's head. The man was slammed back into the floor, blood pouring out of his head. Misty screamed loudly, and Ash grabbed her arm and ran up the stairs. They had to escape some how! They ran up the stairs, and through the building until they came to the last room in the building. Ash suddenly realized that there was no other way out of the building except the way they came! He and Misty were trapped in a room on the second floor! Ash tried to open the window, but it didn't work. Misty whispered, "Listen…"

Ash listened and then heard the sound of heavy footsteps coming towards the door. Ash stared at the door, waiting. The footsteps then stopped and Ash held his breath waiting for something to happen. A second past, and then another, and then the door flew open with tremendous force, shattering its frame! The man stood there, staring at them, his bloody weapon still in his hand. Misty and Ash could do nothing but stare back at the monster that had them trapped. Ash was so terrified that he didn't realize for a moment that something was glowing near him. He turned and saw Togepi, glowing brightly. Ash immediately knew what it was. Metronome! Ash whispered to Misty, "Misty, look at Togepi."

Misty looked down at the small Pokemon in her arms, and suddenly realized what was happening. She then looked back to the monster at the door. The man began walking towards the two. He came closer and closer, Ash began to wonder if Togepi was going to do anything. Then, when the man was right next to the two, an aura of light suddenly surrounded him, and then exploded! The man rocketed backwards, tearing through the door frame and shot through the building. He smashed out of a window at the end of his building and flew out of sight. Ash and Misty looked down at Togepi. It was still smiling and giggling at them, without a care in the world.


	4. Final Note

**Final Author Note:**

It saddens me to say this but this story, along with all of my other unfinished ones, are hereby discontinued. No more chapters will be added, but the stories themselves shall remain up, along with my completed ones, for those who enjoy reading what is already present. But consider them all on permanent hiatus from now on.

And, though this may cause trouble later on, anyone who wishes to use any of my stories, both finished and unfinished, in any way (general allusion in a story of their own, completion, remake, etc.) may do so. All I ask is that you send me a message detailing how you will use the story and, at least for courtesy's sake, ask for permission to use it.

I ask, my friends, for your forgiveness in leaving these tales untold. I hate to quit halfway through a story but unfortunately other areas of my life demand my attention. I'm sorry. Good bye and good luck to all of you.


End file.
